Means for deploying pullolut shade system onboard boat

ABSTRACT

An improved mounting device and assembled configuration for deploying a manually operated pullout shade system of the type having a tensioned roller member carrying a flexible canvas sheet and parallel tubular actuators therefor. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mounting device is disclosed for securing the manual pullout shade system onto an arching tubular overhead structure onboard a boat so that the pullout shade may be adjusted in its working attitude and maintained in proper position for deployment. The mounting device includes a set of clamp members each constructed in the form of a figure “8” with associated circular sections on each clamp member being rotatably coupled together. The circular sections of the clamp members are further adapted to engage about sections of the tubular actuators and nearby portions of the overhead structure thereby providing an adjustable joint coupling between them that allows the pullout shade and its tubular actuators to be placed in various positions for deployment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of co-pending nonprovisional application Ser. No. 14/121,925 filed Nov. 4, 2014 for Means for Deploying Pullout Shade System Onboard Boat, which is further a continuation-in-part of provisional Application Ser. No. 61/962,397 filed Nov. 6, 2013.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to retractable shade systems for boats and their associated deployment, and more particularly to improved structural means for deploying a manually operated shade system onboard a boat where shade cover may not otherwise be provided.

In recreational boating, the so-called “bimini top” is a convertible cover erected upon the deck of the boat and made to be deployed at an elevation comfortably above the heads of the passengers. Drawing its name from the Bimini islands in the Bahamas where it was first employed by boaters to provide desired shade from the strong rays of the tropical sun, the standard type of bimini top and those convertible boat covers of the same nature generally comprise a flexible canvas material secured to a foldable support frame that is erected across the deck and pivotally attached thereto. These standard types of foldable bimini tops can be raised when needed or lowered into a substantially flat position upon the deck when not in use or when an overhead obstruction may otherwise require its lowering. While deployment of these folding type bimini tops was often done manually, some were designed to be automated in their operation, the latter requiring electrical power, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,477 to Briedenweg and U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,716 to Ankney et al. Regardless of their specific foldable structure or method of operational deployment, the installation and utilization of bimini tops have become increasingly important for the protection of passengers and crew on board boats against excessive sun exposure and the known risks of skin cancer caused thereby.

While providing effective sunshade protection, the assembled structure of these folding bimini top arrangements, typically including a plurality of poles or bow-like members pivotally mounted across the boat deck, would often obstruct a person on board from reaching out over the side of the boat when fishing, docking or mooring the boat and further present an obstacle in boarding and loading equipment onto the deck. To overcome these obstacles and still provide effective sunshade protection, retractable canopy systems were devised and developed as retrofits for recreational boats capable of operative attachment to existing overhead structure on the boat without causing obstructions upon the deck. As retrofits, such retractable canopy systems were designed to mount onto existing rooftop members set over the deck of a boat or upon other elevated structures, such as radar arches or towers. These prior art retrofit canopy systems include those designed to be manually operated, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,594 to Feikama and U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,150 to Murphy et al., and those designed to be automated in their operation, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,571,691, 7,895,964 and 7,950,342 to Ronald K. Russikoff. These latter automated systems have featured a telescopic framework or so-called “teleframe” design that mounts directly to a rooftop or other overhead structure on the boat without need for side-supporting poles thereby easing the handling of dock lines and boarding of the boat and providing clear unobstructed views while on board.

While these prior art canopy systems have been generally satisfactory in their intended manual or automated deployment upon boats, some drawbacks have arisen in their implementation and usage. The powered automated systems, for example, while providing relatively quick and easy deployment in a self-supporting framework, are rather burdensome in the weight of their assembled components and further involve a significant amount of retrofit labor in the mounting and routed connections that these automated systems generally require. As a result, these powered automated systems have tended to be installed and implemented on larger and more luxurious vessels where the cost of installation and implementation have a lesser impact upon the boat owners. Manual boat shade systems, on the other hand, are generally lighter in weight and more simple in their retrofit attachments, but have been somewhat limited in their operational deployment upon certain smaller, relatively lightweight recreational boats that have limited overhead surface areas, such as T-top center console fishing boats, bow rider boats, and wake board boats. These smaller recreational boats require a more compact and lightweight retractable canopy system that will better accommodate their limited overhead surface areas and better fit with their existing structure. Such an improved retractable system was devised and published in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013-0206050-A1 for a Pullout Shade System for Boats, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,139,258, that is self-supporting in its structure and “teleframe” in its characteristic design but completely manual in its operation and able to be safely secured and deployed on a wide variety of smaller recreational boats. Still, however, this self-supporting and completely manual pullout shade system did not adapt well to mounting upon the arching tubular overhead structure typically found on many smaller recreational boats and used to secure radar and other boat equipment for operations. A need therefore exists for an improved means for mounting this self-supporting teleframe system on arching tubular overhead structures of the boat. Furthermore, there is an associated need to provide improved means for extending deployment of such a pullout shade system forwardly from rooftop structures along the front portion or bow of the boat where extended shade coverage has been limited and difficult to effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a general purpose and object of the present invention to provide improved means for deploying a manually operated retractable shade system on a boat to increase the comfort and protection of those onboard.

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for extending shade coverage onboard a boat from overhead structures that have heretofore presented problems in supporting retractable shade systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for mounting a self-supporting manually operated retractable boat shade system having a telescopic framework so that the shade may be deployed effectively from arching tubular overhead structure typically found on smaller boats.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for deploying a self-supporting pullout shade system from rooftop structure on a boat forwardly along the front portion or bow of the boat where extended shade coverage has been limited and difficult to effect.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved manually operated boat shade system that extends to the bow of the boat and is safe and reliable to use whether the boat is resting in calm water or moving about on high seas.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for extending deployment of a manually operated boat shade system that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, assemble and install in a working unit affordable to a substantial number of boat owners.

Briefly, these and other objects are accomplished by an improved mounting device and novel assembled configuration for deploying a manually operated pullout shade system of the type having a tensioned roller member carrying a flexible canvas sheet and parallel tubular actuators therefor. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mounting device is disclosed for securing the manual pullout shade system onto an arching tubular overhead structure onboard a boat so that the pullout shade may be adjusted in its working attitude and maintained in proper position for deployment. The mounting device includes a set of clamp members each constructed in the form of a figure “8” with associated circular sections on each clamp member being rotatably coupled together. The circular sections of the clamp members are further adapted to engage about sections of the tubular actuators and nearby portions of the overhead structure thereby providing an adjustable joint coupling between them that allows the pullout shade and its tubular actuators to be placed in various positions for deployment. In a second embodiment, the tensioned roller member of the pullout shade system is attached along the front of rooftop structure on the boat and the tubular actuators are separated therefrom and set apart vertically in the gunnel or narrow ledge extending along both sides of the boat to the bow. In this assembled configuration, the canvas sheet may be drawn forward from the rooftop structure on the tensioned roller member and the tubular actuator pulled into extended upright positions to connect with the canvas sheet and support the extended forward deployment of the shade system.

For a better understanding of these and other aspects of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals and character designate like parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, references in the detailed description set forth below shall be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an arching tubular overhead structure of the type erected on a recreational boat, here shown with a pullout shade system mounted thereon using a plurality of the clamp members in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a clamp member made in a figure-8 form according to the present invention with its rotatable circular sections here shown lying in the same plane; and

FIG. 3 is a further perspective view of the present clamp member here shown with the rotatable circular sections turned at a 90° angle relative to each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following is a detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention and the best presently contemplated mode of their production and practice. This description is further made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention but should not be taken in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being best determined by reference to the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, the following is a list of structural elements associated with the present invention and its corresponding embodiments. To the extent that the tubular actuator structure and manual operational deployment of the associate telescopic pullout shade, here being the subject of mounted support by the present mounting clamp device 70, is deemed required to enable the practice of the current invention, reference is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 9,139,258 for “Pullout Shade System for Boats”.

The associated elements employed in connection with the present invention are as follows:

-   -   10 manual pullout shade     -   12 canvas sheet material;     -   14 tubular actuator assembly;     -   18 handle bar;     -   20 tensioned roller member;     -   70 mounting clamp device;     -   72 clamp members;     -   74 a/b circular clamp sections; and     -   75 arching tubular overhead structure;

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a mounting clamp device 70 is devised for providing a flexible but secure mount of the pullout shade system 10 and its parallel pair of tubular actuator assemblies 14 onto tubular overhead structure 75 in multiple ways. The mounting clamp device 70 comprises one or more clamp members 72 each constructed in the form of a figure “8” with associated circular sections 74 a, 74 b that are set together along the common line of their diameters and rotatably connected so that each circular section may be turned 360° about the common diameter line. Each of the circular sections 74 a, 74 b of the clamp members 72 are adapted to fit upon and engage about cylindrical sections of the respective tubular actuator assemblies 14 holding them in turn together with proximal portions of the overhead tubular structure, as shown in FIG. 1. The clamp members 72 through its rotatable circular section 74 a, 74 b can rotate on the respective tubular diameters that each engage as well as rotate at the center interface providing a variety of placement configurations for deployment. This rotating engagement feature of the specially configured clamp members 72 thus provides an adjustable joint coupling between the tubular actuators 14 and the tubular overhead structure 75 so that the pullout shade system 10 and its canvas sheet material 12 may set in a desired plane and manually deployed by pulling upon the handle bar 18 and drawing the canvas from the tensioned roller member 20.

Therefore, it is apparent that the described invention provides an improved means for deploying a manually operated retractable shade system on a boat to increase the comfort and protection of those onboard. The present invention, in both of its embodiments, provide improved structural means for extending shade coverage onboard a boat from overhead structures that have heretofore been problematic. In the embodiment of the mounting device, the present invention provides an improvement for mounting a self-supporting manually operated retractable boat shade system having a telescopic framework so that the shade may be deployed effectively from arching tubular overhead structure typically found on smaller boats. In the mounting configuration embodiment, the present invention provides an improvement for deploying a self-supporting pullout shade system from rooftop structure on a boat forwardly along its front portion or bow where extended shade coverage has been limited and difficult to effect. This mounting configuration provides an improved manually operated boat shade system that extends to the bow of the boat and is stable in its support and reliable to use whether the boat is resting in calm water or moving about on high seas.

Obviously, other embodiments and modifications of the present invention will readily come to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing description and drawings. For example, the described tubular actuator assemblies 14 extended in their substantially vertical attitudes from mounted positions on the gunnel G may be utilized as well to support a separate type of canvas sheet material, not associated with of extended from a tensioned roller, as a deployed shade cover for the front of a boat that would be further secured and supported in connection with a rooftop or other overhead structure on the boat. Otherwise, alternate embodiments of size and shape, as well as substitution of known materials or those materials which may be developed at a future time to perform the same function as the present described embodiments are therefore considered to be part of the present invention. Accordingly, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment described, but rather is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as expressed in the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for mounting a retractable pullout shade having a telescopic framework for deployment from a tubular overhead structure onboard a boat, comprising: one or more clamp members each constructed having a pair of apertured sections rotatably connected together so that each apertured section may be turned 360° relative to the other.
 2. A mounting device according to claim 1, wherein each of the apertured sections are formed having a circular aperture therein, with each of the circular apertures on a respective one of said clamp members being respectively sized to fit upon and engage about the telescopic framework of the pullout shade and the tubular overhead structure.
 3. A device for mounting a retractable pullout shade having a telescopic framework for deployment from a tubular overhead structure onboard a boat, consisting of: one or more clamp members each constructed having a pair of clamp sections rotatably interconnected so as to turn 360° relative to the other, with each of the clamp sections being formed having a circular aperture therein sized to fit upon and engage about the telescopic framework of the pullout shade and the tubular overhead structure. 